fiammeo

Forms

fiammeo (feminine fiammea, masculine plural fiammei, feminine plural fiammee)^[1]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin flammeus (“flaming, fiery”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} GRADIT and Devoto see the influence of fiamma in its form.^[3][7] The literary flammeo keeps the Latin spelling.^[5][1]

Latin flammeus is formed from flamma (“flame”) with the suffix -eus.^[8][1] The noun goes back to Proto-Italic *flāgmā and Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥h₂gmeh₂, an extension of the root Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“shiny, white”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the word to 1499, and Sabatini–Coletti to the 15th century.^[5][9] DEI gives the 16th century for its sense “flame-coloured”, and GRADIT and Devoto–Oli date it to before 1729.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective has stayed a poetic word for what has the glow or colour of a flame.^[3][5][6] Carducci used it of the headlights of a train: i fiammei occhi sbarra “it opens wide its flaming eyes”.^[6][3] D'Annunzio wrote of fiammei orizzonti, “fiery horizons”.^[6]

Timeline

• 1499 – First record.^[5]
• 16th century – DEI's date for the sense “flame-coloured”.^[2]
• Before 1729 – GRADIT's first record.^[3][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary, poetic) fiery, flaming: having the glow or colour of a flame; fiammeggiante: un cielo fiammeo al tramonto.^{[3][4][9][5][6][1]}

Related words

• fiamma
• flammeo
• fiammeggiante
• Latin flammeus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1663
3. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse